Are people cooking Thanksgiving? How are you doing your Turkey? Any interesting ideas for sides? - jim 11-22-2010 10:49 pm [link] [15 comments]

Since i have nothing to do with my self these days thought Id post anything that seems to have been overlooked for while..Like the fact that the place Ive been going to for around 30 YEARS now on 8th ave for cuban food--now know as Havana Chelsea...has-on the right day-the friggen best roast pork dishes you could ever want to eat...which I am right now. Awsome crunchy skin stuff with major real funk flav.....damn...Oh yeah $9.75 w rice and bean- Michelle S 11-22-2010 5:53 pm [link] [4 comments]

Rowan Jacobsen explains terroir—the "taste of place"—and the way local conditions such as soil and climate affect the flavor of wine and other foods. American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields is the first guide to how our environment influences some of our most iconic foods—including apples, honey, maple syrup, coffee, oysters, salmon, wild mushrooms, wine, cheese, and chocolate. It includes recipes by the author and important local chefs, and a complete resource section for finding place-specific foods.

Had an early dinner last night with Dave and b. at The Fat Radish (website coming soon), a new place at 17 Orchard St. (between Canal and Hester) in an old Chinese sausage factory. Slideshow of the beautiful interior here. The food was very good. I've been thinking about how to describe it, and it's difficult. It's certainly not super fancy. No molecular gastronomy or anything even close to that. But it's not merely the very popular American comfort food thing either (even though there is a grill cheese on the menu.) There are lots of international influences (chorizo and chick pea tagine; monkfish vindaloo) along with some fancied up American fare (an *amazing* celery root pot pie - the best thing we had.) Hard to hang a label on it, but it's thoughtful without trying too hard, and very very tasty. Or you might say, it's simple food that shows an inventive and experienced kitchen.

The wine list is varied, with bottles starting in the high 30s and not going too stratospheric. A mix of European and domestic, with at least something for everyone. We had a Dressner JP Brun Beaujolais ($39) that was a winner, and I noticed a Lopez Tondonia a little further down the list (always makes me feel good about a place to see one of those.) Probably not a wine destination with 10 Bells not far away, but certainly interesting enough.

The owners have a catering company, Silkstone, but this is their first restaurant. Apparently Silkstone has lots of fashion based clients, and combining that with the restaurants location amid the new LES gallery row, makes for a decidedly beautiful crowd. We went at 6:00 and it was fine, but by 7:30 the place was filling up, and I don't think any of us older folks would want to be in there during prime time. Still, if you can eat early, definitely worth a look. I guarantee we'll be hearing a lot about it. Some places just have the buzz and The Fat Radish is definitely one of them.- jim 11-06-2010 4:55 pm [link] [3 comments]

We’ve just received a bit of exciting breaking news at the Portland Monthly headquarters: Saucebox, Bruce Carey’s very hip Asian-fusion happy-hour mecca, has announced that it has a new executive chef coming aboard. The job goes to Jason Neroni, who has previously headed up the kitchens at Southern California’s Blanca , Manhattan’s 10 Downing, and Brooklyn’s Porchetta (now closed).

Saucebox’s former executive chef, Gregory Gourdet, is now at Departure, the sleek Asian restaurant atop the Nines Hotel.

I've written about it previously, but we had another amazing meal at Fore Street in Portland Maine. This included the best oyster of my life (corroborated by Janet) which was from Nonesuch Oysters. Also on the table were an amazing trio of terrines (including boar foie gras), some lobster as part of a seafood crudo that was (and I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating here) again the best I have ever had. For entrees we had a duck, a steak, a rabbit (cooked on a spit over an open fire) and a pasta dish all of which were perfect. The reasonably priced '81 Lopez Tondonia was no longer on the list, but I took a shot in the dark on a California Pinot (I know, I was feeling a little crazy) from Drouhin (a burgundy producer who I didn't know had something going in California) which turned out great. There is some slanderous talk about how I got a little drunk and wouldn't stop telling our waitress how great everything was, but I'm sure that's exaggerated and I acted with perfect composure.

Turns out the way we are taught to sauté mushrooms is dead wrong. If you want the highest quality mushrooms what you want to do is soak your mushrooms and then crowd the hell out of them in a pan. Let me explain...

Nathan Myhrvold's Confit myth (and Myhrvold chimes in several times in the comments.)